Pablo Ayerbe Caselles |
Santander (EFE).- Days before facing his second nomination for what is known as the “Comic Oscars”, the Eisner Awards, Álvaro Martínez Bueno, is nervous but confident that the presence of Spaniards in these awards “will begin to be the norm” in the coming years.
“We should get used to seeing more Spaniards at the Eisners,” he assured EFE in a telephone interview, in which he recounted his second nomination for these awards, after winning the award for best new series last year for ‘The nice house on the lake’.
This comic series, written by screenwriter James Tynion IV and published by DC Comics’ Black Label, has been nominated again this year for best series, while the writer, colorist and Martinez himself are up for individual awards.
He says that he would be “very happy” and feel as his own if his teammates win, as well as if the rest of the nominated Spaniards do, and whom he sees “with all the possibilities.” “I would be very excited,” he emphasizes.
The Spanish, “very well” positioned
“We Spaniards are taking over the most cutting-edge series, this will begin to be the norm”, values the cartoonist. “There are five of us, next year we may be ten: we are very well positioned in the industry right now,” he believes.
Regarding his nomination for best cartoonist, he faces it with the moderate expectations of a comics fan who feels that “the recognition of being next to” the rest of the nominees, whom he admires, “is crazy.”
“Speaking in front of a room where all my heroes and heroines are watching, I don’t even want to imagine it… saying something semi-eloquent must be a nightmare,” he jokes.
For this reason, he says that “if the award does not arrive” it will be “as expected” because the rest of the nominees have “overwhelming trajectories”, although he admits that the day of the gala, which will be held this Friday, July 21 at Comic Con in San Diego (United States), “is not going to be a quiet day”.
What did it mean to win the Eisner?
Winning the Eisner last year has not changed “on a practical level” the way of approaching Álvaro Martínez’s work, but it has changed his position in the comics industry, and various publishers, writers and editors have contacted him to work.
In this sense, Martínez is especially excited because Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead) contacted him to do the cover of his latest work or that “any cartoonist” that he admires “very much” has spoken with him.
About the series, ‘The nice house on the lake’, he advances that although it has already finished and consisted of twelve numbers, the story will continue and the team is working on it, but he points out that “it will not last indefinitely”.
A series that apart from the critical reception, reflected in the awards and nominations, has had a “spectacular” reception in the public, he emphasizes.
“I have been lucky enough to attend quite a few fairs in Spain and I have never had such a warm reception in my work”, he celebrates.